Michael Reisch
Michael Reisch (*1964) studied at Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, currently teaching as a professor for Photography and Digital Media at Alanus-Hochschule, Bonn-Alfter, Germany. He has won several prizes and grants, amongst others Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn, Stiftung Kunst und Kultur des Landes NRW. His work has been exhibited widely at, amongst others, Hypo-Kunsthalle Munich, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Residenzgalerie Salzburg, Fotomuseum Munich, Scheublein + Bak, Zuerich, Bischoff/Weiss, London, Galaxy Museum of Contemporary Art, Chongqing, Museum of Contemporary Art Shenzhen, Photo Bejing, Shanghai International Photofestival, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Fotomuseum Winterthur. His works are part of collections worldwide at amongst others Kunstmuseum Bonn, LACMA Los Angeles, Fotomuseum Winterthur, National Galleries, Edinburgh.
Michael Reisch is initiator of international artist group
darktaxa-project. He lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Link: www.michaelreisch.com
“Trust in those who supposedly know - JORDAN, RILEY”, 2024, 50x40 cm each, Inkjet print/Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308, mounted on Aluminium honeycomb panel/Alucore
“Trust in those who supposedly know - RILEY", 2024, 50x40 cm, Inkjet print/Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308, mounted on Aluminium honeycomb panel/Alucore
“Trust in those who supposedly know - JORDAN", 2024, 50x40 cm, Inkjet print/Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308, mounted on Aluminium honeycomb panel/Alucore
Installation-views: “Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY, DONDIE, REBECCA”, 2023, 50x40cm, Inkjet print, mounted on Alucore/Aluminium honeycomb panel
Installation-views: “Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY, DONDIE, REBECCA”, 2023, 50x40cm, Inkjet print, mounted on Alucore/Aluminium honeycomb panel
Installation-views: “Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY, DONDIE, REBECCA”, 2023, 50x40cm, Inkjet print, mounted on Alucore/Aluminium honeycomb panel
Installation-views: “Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY, DONDIE, REBECCA”, 2023, 50x40cm, Inkjet print, mounted on Alucore/Aluminium honeycomb panel
Installation-views: “Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY, DONDIE, REBECCA”, 2023, 50x40cm, Inkjet print, mounted on Alucore/Aluminium honeycomb panell
„Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY”, 2023, 32x24cm, Inkjet print, mounted on Alucore/Aluminium honeycomb panel
Michael Reisch: „MURRAY; DONDIE; REBECCA - trust in those who supposedly know”, Video-Installation, 14 AI-generated video-loops on recycled tablets, aluminum rack, chargers, cables, 200 x 40m x 10cm, 2023
„MURRAY; DONDIE; REBECCA - trust in those who supposedly know”, working process, 5-2024
„Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY; DONDIE; REBECCA”: Michael Reisch's photography-based works are created in multi-layered, generative work processes that are interrelated and have been continuously building on each other in different "generations" since 2010. The group of works "Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY, DONDIE, REBECCA" from 2023/2024 is the latest generation and created with generative AI. Among other things, it addresses contemporary post-truth and ideologization tendencies against the backdrop of current AI technologies, where images and texts can be transformed into anything imaginable regardless of facts. Technically speaking, Reisch has created various abstract-concrete forms, objects and images in previous generations through numerous analog-digital transformation processes (including image editing software, 3D software, 3D printing and digital photography). These now serve as inputs for his further work processes with current AI tools. Reisch feeds digital photos of his free of meaning, abstract form frameworks into diffusion models for image synthesis (including image-to-image and image-to-video tools). They are influenced with specific words and sentences, so-called "prompts", the words merge with the photos fed in and generate new image material. For example, prompts such as " ... 1920's war-memorial, socialistic realism, ..." are used, transforming or morphing/merging/re-mixing the 3D-printed abstract shapes into monumental, historical-futuristic memorials. In this way, Reisch generates various clusters of meaning that associate strongly ideologically charged contexts. The same abstract initial form is inscribed like a kind of stamp in all AI-generated image results (the digital initial form can also be recognized in every start frame of the video loops). Reisch also created the title "Trust in those who supposedly know - MURRAY, DONDIE, REBECCA" using generative AI; scientific texts on the post-truth movement were fed into a GPT-2 AI model that was trained with film scripts. In this way, Reisch generated fictional scripts based on scientifically sound criticism (GPT-2 = still often error-prone predecessor version of Chat-GPT). The text parts generated by GPT-2 were subjectively selected and reassembled (also in other audio works).
Michael Reisch: Ohne Titel (Untitled), 17/021, 75x60cm UV-Direct-Print on Dilite, 2018
Michael Reisch generiert zunächst in einem kameralosen Prozess mit Hilfe des Computers (Photoshop) digitale Interferenzen von schwarz-weißen Linien und Kurven. Es ergeben sich optische Täuschungen, man glaubt „Etwas“ zu erkennen, z.B. Schichtungen, Scheiben, Faltungen o.ä. Diese generierten „Gebilde“ (die im eigentlichen Sinn Illusionen sind) werden anschließend „materialisiert“, d.h. mithilfe von CAD-Programmen (Cinema 4D) am Computer nachempfunden, als „reale Objekte“ 3D-gedruckt und schließlich im Fotostudio fotografiert. Reisch fotografiert „Motive“, die es in gewisser Weise gibt - da sie 3D-gedruckt sind und in materialer Form existieren-, und die es wiederum „doch nicht gibt“ - da sie auf einer optischen Täuschung beruhen und keinerlei Ausgangspunkte in der „realen“ Welt haben. Er kehrt hierbei die konventionelle Richtung der „Fotografie“ um, die normalerweise von existenten Sachverhalten zu Informationen und Daten (Fotos) gelangt. In Reischs Arbeiten werden immaterielle Daten und Algorithmen zu faktischen und damit „fotografierbaren“ Objekten generiert und wiederum in Daten (Fotos) und Bilder „verwandelt“, wobei u.a. Fragen nach den Verhältnissen Realität-Virtualität, Präsenz-Absenz gestellt werden.
Text: Michael Reisch
Michael Reisch: Ohne Titel (Untitled), 17/020, 95x73,5x5cm UV-Direct-Print on Dilite, 2018
Michael Reisch: Ohne Titel (Untitled), 17/019, 85x67,5cm Archival Pigment Print Schoeller True Baryta, Frame, 2018
Michael Reisch: Ohne Titel (Untitled), 15/004, 120x90 cm, Archivable Ink-Jet-Print, Frame, Museum-Glass, 2014
Michael Reisch: Ohne Titel (Untitled), 17/001, 50x40cm Digital C-Print Kodak Endura Glossy, Mounted, Frame, 2016
Michael Reisch: Ohne Titel (Untitled), 15/008 120x90 cm 47,24x35,34 inches Archival Pigment Print, Frame, Museum-Glass, 2014